not for profit gas&elec company ?

bob.b

the government created network rail as a not for profit company because of the shambles of privitisation... how difficult would it be to set up a similar company to compete with the greedy privitised suppliers or could it be done by a large group from this website?

KimYeovil

Not for profit? So you would save £1.50 off every £50 bill? That'll make a difference!

KimYeovil

And this website is the last place you'd find an ungreedy or communitarian group!

Cardew

There is a non profit making company - it is called Ebico and there are thousands of posts on MSE about the company.

By all accounts they are an excellent company; the only problem is that they are no cheaper for the majority of customers!! they are a little cheaper for pre-pay and low users and you pay no extra for quarterly billing.

This tabloid inspired 'greedy utility companies' cry is repeated time and time again. The reason for high prices is world energy prices have soared.

Greedy utility companies make no higher percentage profit than many other comparable companies, and a lot less than many others.

Annual profits per customer are usually in the region of £30; so it won't make a huge dent in in our £1,000 annual bills if they made zero profit.

c0113tt3

Cardew wrote: »

This tabloid inspired 'greedy utility companies' cry is repeated time and time again. The reason for high prices is world energy prices have soared.

Greedy utility companies make no higher percentage profit than many other comparable companies..

Your statement is not entirely correct, apologies for correcting.

Cardew is correct that it is mainly down to world prices, and the lack of gas storage in uk / electiricty production and so reliant on imports from europe/russia.

But, some companies are greedy and scheming, NPOWER to name and shame, and im sure in the past there has been others, but currently npower is the worst. At best, you have to look for the best deal that suits your circumstances, there is enough sites that compare, but you are better getting the individual tariffs up and calculating yourself.

Ebico claim not for profit, ethical values etc.. but when you compare tarrifs and make calculations you do find that they are competative, but they are not the cheapest, and I personally find it difficult to comprehend that some other companies offer cheaper tariffs than ebico, even standard ones, and they make a profit, where as ebico is slightly more expensive than some, and they dont make a profit?? Ebico also does not have the costs like advertising / shareholders that other companies do, but again these companies do make profit with some cheaper tariffs than ebico.

Cardew

I am not in any way attempting to defend Utility Companies(NPower in particular are dreadful).

I am simply making the point that despite the hysteria about 'greedy' utility companies, their 'excess' profits are not a major contribution to high Utility bills.

Ken68

Ebico will make their profit when they sell the company to someone like nPower, or more likely their supply partner, Southern Electric.

1carminestocky

Just because they are 'non profit making' doesn't mean they don't make a 'surplus', of course. Never seen their accounts but would still be interested in the remuneration packages of their top people. Not casting aspersions in any way, they may be very lowly remunerated, but we always see in the press what the chairman of BG is paid per annum, so would just be interesting to compare...


Edit:

http://www.24dash.com/news/Environment/2007-02-08-National-energy-provider-gives-profits-away

Premier_2

c0113tt3 wrote: »

...

Ebico claim not for profit, ethical values etc.. but when you compare tarrifs and make calculations you do find that they are competative, but they are not the cheapest, and I personally find it difficult to comprehend that some other companies offer cheaper tariffs than ebico, even standard ones, and they make a profit, where as ebico is slightly more expensive than some, and they dont make a profit?? Ebico also does not have the costs like advertising / shareholders that other companies do, but again these companies do make profit with some cheaper tariffs than ebico.

'Not for profit' does not necessarily imply cheapest.

Tesco are a huge retailer that makes a huge annual profit, some of which is distributed to their shareholders as dividends. I don't know what their advertising budget is, but that must be large too. Yet they have cheap prices on many items, especially if you buy in bulk, 2 for 1 offers, etc.

Meanwhile, many small corner shops are still going out of business, presumably because they are not making a profit, yet they often have higher prices than Tesco, ... and I bet their owners could only dream of earning the type of remuneration someone like Terry Leahy gets. Such corner shop advertising budget may extend to a few posters in store at best - compare that to the price of a 30 second advertising slot in the middle or Coronation Street!

Regarding ethical values, this again does not mean always being cheapest, but more about being fair. Who else offers to sell you 1 kWh of gas over a 3 month period for less than 3p? Ebico sell theirs for 2.86p per unit whether you use 1 unit or 10,000 units. What's more it's the same price however you pay for it and especially so if you have a pre-pay meter. The reason ebico believe this is ethical is that those who have little money often try hardest to minimise their consumption and may also have a pre-pay meter, perhaps by choice, perhaps not by choice, and so should not be penalised by relatively higher costs when they have such a meter or try to minimise consumption. If you look at the ebico site, it will explain more about their business model. It explains how the major supplier deliberately target the higher consumers as that is where the higher profits are made; the ebico business model is based on one price for all - that naturally attracts the lower users and those on pre-pay meters and as a result does mean that high users may end up paying more than from another supplier that is targeting that specific higher profit group. However, there are some customers who use high amounts of energy who can afford to do so and some of those more wealthy customers are happy to pay a slightly higher price than they would with another supplier because of the 'feel good' factor knowing that all customers of ebico are paying the same price, a price which is extremely competitive to those in most need.

More information here:
http://www.ebico.co.uk/html/a_ebirth.php

1carminestocky

It's just a shame that Ebico's hands are tied with regard to having to use one of the 'greedy, fat cat strewn' energy companies for their supplies. That's the problem, really. Beyond the Big 6, there really is no choice as to where you get your fuel from.

loz86

Apart from online tariffs, Ebico is currently the cheapest provider in ALL regions based on average usages of 19000kWh for gas and 3500kWh for electricity.

They are not move expensive that others supplies, they just don't give you special offers and discounts so might appear to be more.

Currently, an average Prepayment Meter customer who has never switched (with British Gas and the Local Electricity Distribution Company) can save as much as £450 by switching to Ebico.